Every team has a different value proposition to bring to their agents. In a shifting market, one thing that will create success for a team is moving “lead generation” at the top of their value proposition.
While there are dozens of ways to generate real estate leads, the most challenging part of leveraged lead generation is “lead flow” and “lead accountability.” In other words, once a lead is generated, you must have the right systems to manage the flow of the lead and the right systems to make sure agents are doing what needs to be done to convert the leads.
The most important factor in lead conversion is “speed to lead,” and making sure that within 60 seconds of the lead being generated, someone (or something) is making contact with the lead. Some teams use ISA’s, inside sales agents, whose job it is to contact, qualify and nurture the inbound leads until they are far enough down the funnel to be handed to an agent to close. Some teams use AI, a bot that automatically texts or emails any lead as soon as it comes in. And some teams use a “round-robin” system where leads are distributed to the team of agents. If an agent is not available and doesn’t answer, it is automatically routed to the next agent in line.
Our group uses all three of those systems. We know that a lead will automatically be contacted and conversed with our AI. At the same time, our ISA team, and our agents, are watching the text conversation with the AI and can jump in at any moment when the time is right.
Teams who have the right lead flow systems in place can expect an average 5 percent conversion ratio in the short-term, six-month period. And if the team has the right lead follow up systems in place, they can expect an average 10 percent conversion year-over-year. For example, if there are 1,000 leads in a database, and the leads are being touched on 30-36 times per year by way of text, email, mail, social media and phone calls, that should yield 100 closings per year. Of course, this average only happens when there is long-term consistency, and there are skilled, proactive agents working the lead once it is ready to go into the field and start the process of buying or selling.
With leveraged lead generation, the agent’s primary job becomes lead follow up. We know that it takes an average of 12 conversations before a lead actually signs a contract. So agents have to be patiently aggressive and be relentless with their follow-up if they want to close on team leads consistently.
To ensure these systems all function at top potential, the most successful teams have a strong lead accountability system in place to make sure agents are motivated to follow up on the leads, and more importantly, update the notes and status of the leads in the company’s CRM (customer relationship management) system.
This allows the lead generation team to have visibility into the pipeline, what’s happening with the leads they generate, which agents are performing best and how much money they stand to make if they’re bonused on leads that close.
An example of lead accountability would be:
- Agents must update new leads and their status within 24 hours of lead assignment.
- All leads “in the field” must have their status notes updated once per week
- All leads must be contacted within 1 minute of being assigned
Teams have automated systems to monitor and manage all of this. Agents who do not follow the minimum standards of lead accountability may be taken out of lead flow. Lead accountability systems also help the team owners know what topics to coach their agents on, based on what the system shows.
There is only one answer to a shifting market for teams; generate a ton of leads and have the best possible training, systems and people working to grow agents’ pipelines consistently.
David DeVoe is the CEO and owner of The DeVoe Group, based in New Jersey. David and his team are proud to have their full-service production team help you achieve your dream of buying or selling real estate. He is driven to provide you with the ultimate in customer service. His is to protect your interests and develop customers for life by providing you with the best real estate experience you’ve had.
